Seen a house we want to buy - what next?

[Chickenandpenguin]

I'm not sure this is the right place so please tell me if so!
We've seen and viewed a house that is exactly what we'd like to buy. What do we do now? We currently live in a property we own (with a mortgage). Do we just get it on the market and hope the other doesn't sell until we've had an offer on ours? Is there any way of keeping an eye on what happens with the property other than just watching right move?
Thanks :)

Some people will put offers in on houses when theirs has not sold, but usually they are at least up for sale. I know a lot who don't go viewing until they have an offer on theirs.

In some areas houses literally sell within a week but in others they can take a while, so I would think that if you were to offer now, unless you offered higher than other potential buyers, they would probably be more likely to choose people who are more ready to proceed, but it depends entirely on the situation, how long it has been up for sale etc.

You could let the Estate Agent know your position/interest and they can guide you. It might be that the owners aren't looking to move immediately etc. If you don't ask you wont know :)

We saw a house we wanted to buy when ours wasn't on the market. We made an offer along the lines of would you accept x in principle but we'll have to get ours up for sale. To our surprise they stopped marketing theirs and waited for us. Ours was known to the agent who could advise them it would sell quickly. Theirs whilst perfect for us was a huge 1970s detached but not much kerb appeal and short on bathrooms to bedrooms etc by modern standards. So I guess that long ramble is to say there is no one answer - it will very much depend on the circumstances.

Hmm interesting thank you. We only went to see it As it has been reduced recently and seemed to good to be true at the price. (Still possible - we'd get a thorough survey!) it's been reduced as has been on the market for about a year and it's s separated couple. It's cosmetically a mess and very grubby, also has a local occupancy clause that we are eligible for. Maybe I should just ring estate agents tomorrow and explain our position more thoroughly. I wasn't sure how helpful they'd be, they seem nice though.
Our house was quite popular when we bought it and am hoping it'll remain the same when we try to sell. I could suggest they come and value it as part of our conversation maybe? Would it be s bad thing selling and buying with the same one or better?

We offered on a house before we had sold, but ours was on the market at least. We had to offer full asking price to get it off the market (it had only been on a few days). The vendors were happy to wait for us to sell - but we had the proviso that if we couldn't sell, we could rent ours out and still have enough deposit to buy theirs. Think it took the pressure off them a bit so they could take their time finding somewhere to move to.

We were advised by an ex estate agent friend to NOT use the same EA to sell ours as we were buying from. He pointed out that a separate EA would try and get best price for us, whereas same EA would just want to wrap up the chain ASAP.

local occupancy will indeed cut the price - so if you are eligible to buy it, all good. Remember it will make it harder to sell.

cosmetic mess; fine, but not maintained is not fine. Have a very good look.

if they are selling due to a split, fine (for you, not them) but find out the situation. If one starts dragging their feet you are in for a long haul.

anyway, get yours on the market and go and see the new one.

Good point just I hadn't thought of that. The only reason it's even on our radar is due to its recent reduction so it may be the same for a whole lot of other people. I'm not in a mad panic about it though, and part of me wonders if it'd be daft to put our house on the market on the basis of this house as we're unlikely to be able to afford a different property so once this ones gone we may not be able to sell. (If that makes sense). Shame it's all so complicated really! I do need to dig a bit deeper on their circumstances, just the bloke living there the past year which may explain the mess etc but good point re what else hack they not maintained...hmm.

local occupancy restriction really does limit the number of people that can buy it so it would be well worth investigating. Do some asking around and research, costs nothing.

and hammer it down on price; apart from anything else, not selling for a year tells you a lot.

I would put in on with the same estate agent despite valid point by a previous poster. Make it clear to them you won't be taking a cheeky offer. It's definitely in their interests to sell as they'll have two commissions riding on it.

Make sure you get a no sale no fee contract if it's just this house you would move for.

Can be hard buying off a divorced couple but neither is in situ and being turfed out at the behest of the other so that's positive.

We put our last house on the market a year ago as a result of viewing a house that was a real one-off and perfect for us in almost every way.

Having driven 3.5 hours to view it we did put in an offer but although it had been on the market for over a year (and the vendor had already bought elsewhere/moved out), they didn't take it seriously as we were not proceedable buyers.

We went home, finished off a few outstanding jobs on our house that had been bought as a wreck project three years earlier and got it on the market asap. Neighbours warned us we could be facing a wait of up to a year to find a buyer, but thanks to having restored the house tastefully we accepted an asking price offer in five weeks at which point we went in with a relatively cheeky offer on the other place that was accepted straight away!

It's difficult to know if going with the same EA is a good idea or not - I'd say it possibly is as they stand to gain two lots of commission, but you do face the danger of them trying to get you to accept lowball offers in order to facilitate the onward purchase.

GL with it!